I've been wanting to read something you've written for a while now, especially with all the lovely reviews you've left me :) Then I saw the title of this one-shot and I didn't look any further on your page!

This was really beautiful! People always say that history is written by the winners and because of that it's all too easy to forget that there are two sides to every story, and there's nothing really black and white about war. I think this story filled in those shades of grey in between fantastically.

You brought the characters to life so well in this story. I felt like I was in the room with Narcissa as she looked on the ghosts of her past, mourning them. The best thing about this was the fact that each of the Death Eaters, however hated they may be in history, were real people. Despite the murders they committed, they truly believed in their cause, and to Narcissa they were good friends. It's ridiculous to think that just because they were perceived as evil, someone close to them wouldn't mourn their deaths.

I think you really showed the ramifications of the war, and the deeply scarring effects on people from both sides. I loved the fact that Narcissa was not only mourning the people on her side, but also Sirius and Andromeda. To me it really highlighted the fact that your loyalty to the side you choose cannot always break the ties of family. It was just so real and believable, and actually absolutely heart-breaking to read.

This was another line I loved: " her mother's desperate prayers at night to the stars, to the heavens". I'm not sure if it was intentional, but to me it was as though Narcissa's mother thought she might find some evidence, some trace of her daughter in the skies - linking in with the names. If it was intended, I think it's brilliant, and if not, maybe even more so!

The whole one-shot fit with the song perfectly. I could hear the lyrics in my head as I read this, and I loved the parallels you drew between the two stories. The young men, desperate for glory; the ideology they clung to so tightly; the way that war changed them; the unfulfilled promises of failed revolution.

For me this was genuinely perfect, and I could tell that you'd thought about every word you used. Your writing style is lovely and this was a brilliant, poignant one-shot. I'll definitely be back to read some more of your work when I get the chance!

Sian :)

Author's Response: Hey there - thanks so much for stopping by! :)

Aww, don't worry about it - I love reading your work! It's all so beautiful, and so wonderfully written, it's totally not neccesary :)

Yeah, I definitely agree with that, and I really wanted to show another side to the Death Eaters, and kinda highlight the forgotten people on their side, because there are so many stories about the people from the Order, you know, but not many about them.

I really wanted to try with the characters of the Death Eaters, especially the ones Narcissa with closer to (like Rosier, and Wilkes, and Regulus, and Bella and so on) to show that there's more than one side to a person, and that she didn't necessarily see the evil things they did, just the belief and the friendliness they did have, underneath it all. So yeah, it sort of was that she mourned the men they were, perhaps, rather than what they became.

I wasn't sure originally whether or not to include Andromeda and Sirius, but I did in the end because even if they didn't die or go to prison, she's still lost them, kinda because of the war in a way, and she can't mourn them in any other situation, like with the Death Eaters. Both aren't acceptable things to do, so it's a private, night-time sort of thing.

Ooh, no I didn't realise that at all. I was thinking more of deities and praying and the kind of desperation that can sometimes imply to people who aren't religious, or if the person praying isn't religious. But now that you've pointed it out, I kinda like it! Strange how those things happen sometimes ;)

Yeah, I always loved the revolutionnaries story in Les Mis more than the whole romance idea, tbh - because it's so powerful, and it's almost only so powerful because they fail, and I think there's such an important message there. But yeah, I liked the paralells available, and twisting it to be the Death Eaters, rather than, say, Dumbledore's Army, which maybe some people wouldn't have expected :P

Gah, thank you so so much for the truly lovely review! It was so amazing to get it - and thank you again for all the compliments! :)